Jailbirds
by banjamin100franklin
Summary: The year was 2024. Wars were an everyday thing. Any dragons not actively in the war were sent to prisons, where they were stored and bred for later use. Follow Dapple, a young Runner who only wants to fly. Meet his friends, rivals, and other dragons of all species. (M for later chapters an adult themes)


**Chapter 1**

Dapple opened his light grey eyes slowly. He was met with white, pale and smudged with dirt. He sighed and closed his eyes again, wishing the walls away.

But there was a croaking yawn from the cell next to his, and the wingless dragon stood. He stretched out his legs, the front two a paler blue than the rest of his sapphire-scaled body. The lighter leopard spots running down his neck and across his back shimmered in the dim light. He bent his head down to chew at one of the smooth, leathery plates running down his belly and neck. The blue hair on his neck, back and tail was spiked up as he shook himself.

Dapple padded to the front of his cell, sitting down expectantly. A human, who only came up to his elbow, ran forward and pushed a tray of raw meet in through the slot in the bottom of the cage. Dapple rumbled slightly and quickly snapped up the only meal he would have for the rest of the day. His long ears twitched, swiveling to lay up against the ridged horns growing form his skull.

Suddenly there was a cry from further down the jail. Dapple lifted his head, sniffing at the air. A new dragon was being brought in. And by the scent of it, the dragon was female.

Interested, he pressed his nose up against the bars and craned his head, grey eyes glinting in the light.

A small, petite female was being dragged down the hall by one of the many machines made for doing exactly that: dragging dragons down the halls. Her head and neck were a dark purple and so was her tail, but her main body was a bright pink. Squiggly, light pink stripes ran down her back. Her ears, furry and wide, were flared out in anger. The machine tugged at the blue reins as another mechanical arm reached forward and opened the cell across from Dapple's.

He sat back and grinned at her. She was a beautiful one. Feisty, too. There were many whistles going up around him, hoots from the Breedum dragons and growls from the Warres. Dapple just sat back, grinning slightly.

The she-dragon screeched at the machines, shaking to ruffle the purple fur running down her neck, back, and tail. She was the same kind of breed that Dapple was. She even had the fur running down her neck and chest.

As the arm folded back into the wall and the robot went off to drag another dragon somewhere, she huffed and walked in a circle.

Dapple stared at her while she made herself comfortable on the pile of blankets that were in every cage. She paused and took notice of him, ears flaring out. "What are you looking at, dick?" she snarled, baring her sharp little teeth.

Dapple laughed, light blue tongue flicking out to taste the air. "Nothing much."

She snarled at him, but her expression smoothed when he said, "Except a beautiful dragoness that just so happens to be in the cage across the street."

She smirked slightly and turned away, tail flicking against the bars. "You ain't getting' nothing."

"Who said I needed anything?" he replied, lying down. "What's your occ?"

She paused then heaved a sigh, lifting her head and turning around. "I used ta be a Runner. You?"

"Same. Name's Dapple. You?"

A smirk slid up her lips and she chuckled slightly. "Clairabelle. You can call me Clair."

"Clairabelle," Dapple said. "Kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Isn't that the name of one of those princess dragonesses somewhere else in the world?"

"Yup," she answered, ears folding down slightly. "My ma hoped it would bring luck, but it hasn't. Not yet, anyways."

Clair looked away, emerald eyes sad. After a moment, she sighed and laid her head down. "So what do you do here?"

Dapple blinked and copied her action, settling down. "You must know that this is just dragon storage, right? They bring us here either when A, they don't need us. B, they need us for the breeding grounds. Or C, they store us for later use."

"Breeding grounds?" she whispered, ears falling in dread. Dapple nodded, flushing under his scales. "Yeah. But they usually only use the Speeds or the Warres. They don't use us Runners."

Clair nodded, slightly put t ease at the reassurance. "How long have you been here?"

Dapple shrugged a shoulder, left ear twitching. "Who knows? Probably a year, maybe two. My buddy Starburst has been here for at least three. He's a few cells down. He taught me the ropes of the place."

Clair nodded and sighed, covering her head with her paw. "I don't have much hope, then, do I?"

Dapple sighed and shook his head. "No, not really."

She let out a soft keen and shifted, turning so she faced the back of her cell. From his vantage point, Dapple got a nice view of her underneath. He blushed again and turned his head, looking over at an ugly puke-green Warr. "Sorry, Clair."

"No… No, it's okay," she mumbled. "I shouldn't have signed up for the war in the first place."

Dapple sighed and set his head on his paws, black claws clicking against the smooth floor. "Hey, it'll be okay. They'll take us out into the courtyard later. Just wait about an hour or so, you'll see. This prison is one of the finest, made for our comfort rather than storage."

"Right."

[…]

True to Dapple's word, his hall of the prison was let out an hour later. Humans came in, tying reins around his snout. He let them; there was no cause for an uproar. He spotted Clair having a bit of trouble, but with a flick of his ear she caught on and let them tie her up.

Shackles were placed on all the dragons' front legs so they wouldn't run and soon enough they were led outside. The winged dragons roared and took to the skies. A few of them settled onto the heavy iron mesh that surrounded the yard, hanging off the links like bats. Dapple watched them for a bit, feeling the familiar twinge of jealousy in his stomach. Runners were meant to run, not fly. He would never fly. He needed to get that notion out of his head.

"Hey, blue boy!"

He turned and grinned at Starburst, lifting onto his back legs and waving with one of his paws. "Stratosphere, watcha doing? I thought they had you laid down by now!"

"My name isn't Stratosphere, dude, stop calling me that," Starburst said, sitting back on his haunches. He was a brilliant orange dragon, striped with complex brown zebra-like stripes. His underbelly was a paler, softer orange. He had feathers going out of the back of his head, a dark brown scattered with bright yellow. These feathers later appeared on his back and at the base of his tail, also coming out of all four of his elbows. His wings were a dark brown, lightening to orange then turning into a pale tan. He had brown feather tips on his wings, alone with a yellow stripe running down the primaries. His tail swished around, brown, feathery end wrapping around one of his paws.

"I'll stop calling you that when you stop calling me blue boy," Dapple shot back, grinning.

Starburst snorted, flipping his brown bangs out of his bright yellow eyes. "Yeah, sure. Whatever."

He stood and shook, chains rattling. Starburst was, after all, a Breedum. He always wore chains, one on each of his feet and three clamped around measured intervals on his tail. They were meant to keep him tethered to the floor in the middle of mating, since winged dragons had a tendency to take off into the air in the middle of it all.

There was a deep barking noise twenty feet away. Dapple sat back on his hind legs and grinned at Clair, who snapped at a male that got too close to her.

"Hey, isn't that the new girl?" Starburst whispered, going over to sit next to Dapple. The blue dragon nodded. "She's right across from my cell."

Starburst wiggled his shoulders, wings fluffing up slightly. "She's a good one. Think I'll _meet_ her?"

Dapple snorted and shook his head. "You know they don't cross-breed Runners. They need as much speed as they can get out of us."

Starburst hummed in disappointment, head feathers drooping slightly. Then he smirked and cast a sidelong glance at Dapple. "More for you, then, eh?"

Dapple immediately flushed under his scales and he whacked his friend with the tip of his tail. "No, of course not. She'd hate me forever."

"But you're the only full breed Runner here, blue boy. Do you honestly think they won't hook you two up? I mean, it's already obvious they want you two to be friends. They set her right in front of _your _cage. The last time they set a she-dragon in front of me, I was nailing her a week later!"

Dapple abruptly stood, tail swishing in annoyance. "Listen, dude," he said, twisting his head around o glare t Starburst. "You know that won't happen, so can't you just drop-"

And suddenly he ran into a larger dragon. Dapple stumbled backwards, falling onto his back and staring up t the forest green Breedum.

"Hey there, pretty boy, watch where you're going," the male snarled, pale cyan and green wings flaring out. Dapple felt his own furry spine rise at the show of dominance. He growled deep in his throat and stood, tail lashing. "What do you want, Aren?"

Aren laughed, wings shaking with the deep sound. He paced forward, green scales flashing in the light. His body was a dark forest green with jagged, lighter stripes running down his back. The tops of his wings were the same color as his body, but the underside was a pale cyan that, when stretched all the way out, was nearly transparent. His horns, a startling pale sky blue, curled into the air. The dark cyan, jagged spikes ran down his back and ended in the middle of his tail.

Aren grinned at Dapple, baby blue eyes glinting with lust. "You."

Dapple reared back instinctively, tail coiling around his hind feet. Starburst ran up to them, throwing a feathery wing over Dapple's shoulders. "Hey, bud, I think we should go-"

And suddenly Dapple leaped at Aren, claws sliding out f his fingers with a _shink. _He landed on Aren with a yowl, biting into the vulnerable neck. The larger dragon hissed and swiped at him. Soon, they were a tangling and writhing mass of limbs and scales.

Screeches and howls of 'fight, fight, fight' went up around them. Dapple slashed at Aren's belly with his powerful hind legs, pummeling the larger dragon on top. Aren hissed and bit down on Dapple's blue chest, tongue flicking out and slithering over his neck. Dapple shivered and twisted, bucking him off. Aren spread his wings , flying circles around Dapple.

"Flightless, flightless," he taunted, tail coming down and whacking the side of the Runner's head. Dapple toppled to the ground, ears ringing from the powerful blow.

And suddenly there was a blue of green, yellow, blue, and red. Dapple looked up, trying to focus on the half-breed Runner standing over him. "G-Google?"

Google glanced at him, yellow eyes burning, then turned back to Aren, who almost immediately landed and bowed his head low to the ground. "S-Sir, I am so very sorry-"

"Shut it."

Aren's jaws snapped closed. Dapple glanced around to find any dragons in the area back down, tails falling to the ground and wings folding in tight. Google was a legend. He was most possibly the fastest half-breed in the prison and he held the most dominance.

Google glanced at Dapple again and the blue Runner could once again see why he was the most dominant.

His base color was a deep blue. He had a bright green muzzle and his jaws were a bright scarlet. His horns, two llong ones above his ears and two shorter ones below, were a shining gold, which was the same color as his left front leg and the stripes running down his back. His back was red beneath the stripes, and so was his left back leg. His entire right hind leg was the same green as his muzzle. So were the leopard-like spots splattered across his body. Scarlet red fur ran down his back, fanning out at the end of his tail.

He wore a light blue collar around his neck and had the same colored gloves n his front feet. His ears were pierced with small hoops and near the tips there were light blue chains, signifying his rank.

"Dapple, tell me what happened."

Dapple swallowed, shaking under the cold yellow gaze. "I ran into Aren and he threatened to mate me."

Gasps went around and Aren shrunk slightly, green scales turning scarlet. Google's gaze turned and glared at him. "Is this true? Don't lie, I could tell if you were."

Aren paused, blue eyes cast down to the floor. After a moment, Google growled and he nodded, mumbling an embarrassed "Yes".

"Alright. Dapple, you're dismissed. Aren, you're coming with me."

Dapple clambered to his feet and ran back to Starburst, fur still ruffled. He abruptly sat down next to the Breedum and glared at anybody who dared even glance at him.

Suddenly, Clair sidled up next to the two. She sat down, tail daintily folding around her feet. The three sat there for a moment in silence. Finally, Clair leaned towards Dapple and whispered. "Well, I think it was charmin', how you defended yourself and all that."

Dapple's left ear lifted towards her and he blinked, caught by surprise. "Really?"

She nodded and sighed, standing and moving to sit in front of the two males. "So you're Starburst?"

The Breedum nodded, playing with the chains around his left foot. "Yup."

"And who was that?" she asked, swinging her head to Google and Aren as they slipped back into the prison. Google was left unchained, but Aren was immediately put under heavy iron ones.

"That was Goodle and Aren."

"Google? Isn't that the name of that thing that the humans use?" she asked, furry ears lifting. Dapple nodded.

"They named him after it because of his coloring. Turns out he's even faster than the program is."

"What does he do?"

Starburst shrugged a wing, preeing it with his snout and working out any dirt from the feathers. "Noboy knows. All we know is he can reach Mach 2."

"Really! Well Jesus, he's fast! How fast are you, Dapple?"

The blue dragon looked down. After a moment, he stood and turned away, padding back to the prison doors. Starburst sighed, watching him. "He's never run," he said quietly. "He was a live birth, you know. Born in the breeding grounds, somewhere in Kentucky."

"Oh," Clair murmured, ears folding down in pity. "Poor him. I was hatched in Texas, raised there too. On a farm, you know? Bonded with a little girl. She was going to be my Captain, I think. But then the family couldn't make ends meet and I signed up for the war so the dad wouldn't have to. I was supposed to go to California for training, but something must have gone wrong and now I'm here."

"Eh, that's America for you," he muttered, blinking. She paused and glanced at him. "You talk funny. Where're you from?"

"Canada. They said it had gotten too crowded with dragons and since they ever take part in any current wars, they sent one fourth of us to America. I just happened to be part of the unlucky quarter."

"At least they didn't send you to England," Clair said, shivering. "Oh, I've heard so much about the wretched place. They say it's worse than here."

Starburst nodded and sighed, standing as a bell rang. "Yep. They're too crowded, right? All their dragons are kept up north in inhumane pens. Like cattle, I think."

Clair nodded and sighed, standing to follow his example. "We gotta go back in, don't we?"

Starburst shrugged and grinned at her. "Well, now the real fun begins. For me, at least."

[…]

**So how did you like that, people? Were you hoping fo something… ****_more? _****Well, you'll get your wish in the next chapter. See you then.**


End file.
